I work in LTC, and we recently got a new DON. On the unit I work on, there is a very combative resident. He does not like to be bothered unless he rings his light. If you attempt to bathe him, or get him up, or even change his brief before he wants you to, he will swing. All the CNAs and nurses, along with his family, are aware of this. The old DON knew about this as well. Only his daughter can convince him to bathe, but she only comes once a month and even then, there’s a chance he’ll refuse,

Anyways, the new DON was walking around and went into said residents room. She came out and said he reeked and wanted to know who had him and why he hadn’t been washed. The CNA who had him told her the situation, but the DON said it didn’t matter if he fought back, he had to be cleaned. We told her that he gets his brief changed regularly but that’s all he’ll allow. She still said that was unacceptable and that it was neglect. We then brought up residents rights and this lady looks us dead in the eyes and says, “Residents don’t have rights.”

Excuse me?? Luckily someone from HR was there and was able to defuse the situation but how do you become the DON of a LTC facility and not know that residents have the right to refuse? It just doesn’t make sense to me.